Shades of the Past
by xnecroespherex
Summary: The past haunts everypony, but for Princess Luna, it comes back to life. When three Shades from her past awake to the future, unaware of Nightmare Moon, Luna's world is rocked to the core. A deadly coup is set about and an even greater evil lurks in waiting. Can the three Shades save Luna and Equestria, or will the pony world be consumed by the Darkness? Leave comment on leaving.


Prologue

_"Princess Luna where are we going?" Night Blade questioned, his gravelly voice booming around the walls of the tunnel. The tunnel walls dripped with water and mold was beginning to grow, filling the air with a musky smell. Black Paladin ignored the smell as he shadowed Luna followed closely by Night Blade and Galeful Knight. They had all been woken up earlier that evening by the princess herself and had been told to put on their full regalia._

_ "We art leading thou to a secret chamber. Thou shalt rest for the next few years," Luna told them, keeping her voice down. She stopped in front of a large metal wall with strange and mysterious symbols inscribed into it. Black Paladin would have loved to study the symbols if they had the time. Galeful Knight seemed to not realize the wall was there as he crashed into it sending off a resonating boom._

_ "What is behind this wall princess?" Galeful Knight asked as he readjusted his helmet. His light blue mane with three white streaks could be seen as his helmet released it all. It hung to his shoulder and looked like he had just flown at top speed. Galeful Knight stumbled into Night Blade leaning against him. "That was painful. Ouch."_

_ "Maybe next time you shall watch were you are going," Night Blade growled at him, shaking his brown mane and stepping into the torchlight. He stood taller than Galeful Knight and wore bronze armour. He wore a large scythe on his back that resembled the same scythe on his cutie mark. Even though they often acted like they hated each other, Black Paladin knew that those two were the closest of friends._

_ "Art thou done?" Luna questioned the two friends. They both nodded and she turned around, staring at the door. Her horn began to glow as she summoned up her magic. The door gave a similar glow as it shook in its frame and slowly slid open, sending off a cloud of dust. Paladin sneezed as the dust drifted down on top of him and the others. He shut his eyes and heard the door rumble opening. When he opened his eyes he saw a large, cavernous chamber with windows near the ceiling. On the walls, paintings of pony history were spread along the walls but stopped at a certain point._

_ Black Paladin was surprised to see that the paintings were magically continuing on their own. A small glow could be seen were the painting was continuously growing, sketching out a new picture that Paladin could not discern._

_ "Princess Luna, what is this room?" Black Paladin asked stepping into the room._

_ "This room is the Chamber of History. But the wall art is not why we have brought thee here tonight," Luna said as she strode toward the center of the room where three green crystals glowed eerily. Black Paladin followed closely behind her while Night Blade and Galeful Knight examined the walls._

_ "Wait, is that us?" Galeful Knight questioned when he spotted a trio of ponies with armour and cutie marks exactly like theirs. Black Paladin spotted the painting realizing that Galeful Knight was correct._

_ "Indeed 'tis thee," Luna answered concentrating her magic on the crystals, opening them. "It is a recording of thou becoming our students in the art of the shadow. The very same day we proclaimed thou shades of the night and allowed thou to use magic to blend into the shadows."_

_ "That day?" Black Paladin thought to himself, remembering that day well. He had never felt so afraid and proud at the same time. It was the day all three of them had received their cutie marks. It was Black Paladin's cutie mark that had made the largest impression on Luna. His was a cross of two swords that symbolized war magic. He had since then spent most of his nights learning how to wield his war magic and had found that he was an extremely competent warrior._

_ "We know Black Paladin," Luna spoke from behind him. "That day opened many paths for the future but it still was a day of greatness. We discovered a great many things about thee, as well as brought thou under our wing. Thou have been faithful to us since that day and we admire thy dedication."_

_ "Princess Luna, what are these crystals exactly?" Night Blade asked as he inspected one of them. Black Paladin was thinking the same thing as he inspected another one. He had never seen a crystal like this in his studies and he was trying to figure out what it did. They were a bright shade of green, but were brighter than any emerald he had seen. It was six sided with the front opening faced toward the metal door. Black Paladin stepped onto the front side trying to look into the crystal._

_ "Do not step into that yet," Luna warned as she continued her spell on the crystals. "It is not yet ready for thee."_

_ "Princess," Night Blade began, "is something wrong? This entire night has been strange and now you are casting spells on crystals. I know we are to keep ourselves unknown to the rest of Equestria, but I do not understand what is going on here. Are we going to reveal ourselves soon to everypony?"_

_ "Soon, Night Blade, soon thou shalt see what we art doing," Luna sighed as she finished her spell. "We have spent many years raising thee, hoping that thou would never learn the art of war but it was impossible to stop. Now my little ponies, we ask you to sleep as we try to sort out some issues with the Griffin Kingdom that you may have raised."_

_ "What?" All three of the gasped at the same time. The room was silent for what seemed like an eternity before Black Paladin spoke up._

_ "So this has nothing to do with the growing jealousy of your sister I am assuming?" He gazed at her waiting for any give away of truth but not spotting any._

_ "Black Paladin. We promise it has nothing to do with a growing jealousy of our sister. Where did thou come up with such an absurd accusation?"_

_ "Scrying magic," Black Paladin reminded her pointing at his horn. "We shall sleep as long as you promise to wake us within ten years. We will see you then I believe."_

_ "We shall try to wake thou in ten years. We cannot be exact with our timing though so it may be off by a month or so. But thou hast our promise," Luna answered her question looking at the doorway._

_ "Ok princess, I shall go first then," Night Blade spoke up, stepping into the closest crystal. It shut itself quickly with a burst of smoke and a blast of magic energy. Night Blade could be seen inside, floating in a magical web that seemed to keep him suspended in time._

_ "Good night young Night Blade," Luna said, turning to the other two ponies. "Who shall be next?"_

_ "I will go!" Galeful Knight exclaimed jumping into his crystal. This caused him to be upside down when the crystal shut itself, leaving him sleeping in an awkward position._

_ "Well Black Paladin?" Luna looked at her last student. "Art thou ready to sleep?"_

_ "Princess," Black Paladin began, "are you sure this is the best thing to do?" He glanced apprehensively at the final crystal in the center. Luna seemed confident in the crystal keeping them safe for the time being, but Black Paladin wasn't sure if he wanted to trust it._

_ "Black Paladin, thou need fear nothing," Luna soothed him. "We art sure that the crystal is safe and will not do anything harmful to thee."_

_ "What about you princess?" Black Paladin questioned her. "Who will protect you while we sleep? Who shall keep you company when the night becomes lonely?" He worried about her safety more than his own life and he wanted her to know that. He did not want to leave the princess alone by herself in the world. "Maybe I can stay with you and protect you from harm."_

_ "Black Paladin," Luna commanded, "we ask thee to sleep. You will do so. This matter is not open to discussion, nor was it ever for that matter. Now sleep, and we shall wake you when the time is right."_

_ "Yes princess," Black Paladin bowed. He hesitated on the edge of the crystal looking back at the princess, who only waved her hoof for him to continue. He took in a deep breath and took a step into the crystal. It was warm inside and he felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him. He tried to fight back a yawn but was unsuccessful as he felt a wave of magic wash over him. He turned, trying to catch one last glimpse of Luna before he slept, but she was surrounded by a cloud of darkness._

_ He tried to fight the magic but failed as he felt his eyes begin to close. He could only watch as the cloud enveloped Luna, though he could not tell if it was a dream or if it had actually happened. He would not figure out until he awoke again._

_ "What art thou?" Luna asked the cloud as it swirled around her. When the crystal that Black Paladin now slept in closed, it had sprung from a window, quickly surrounding her._

_ "Oh Luna," the cloud cackled, "We are you. You are us. We are the side of you that wishes to fulfill the wish of a night eternal. Do not try to fight us for you cannot win."_

_ "Black Paladin and the others can stop thee foul daemon," Luna told the cloud. She began the spell but was cutoff when the cloud jumped into her body. Luna shuddered as she felt her body transform, the cloud slowly taking over her conscious. She felt herself grow taller her bones growing faster than they should, hurting her._

_ "Do not fight us Luna. We still require your form, but even if you fight us, we shall still prevail over you," The cloud laughed to itself. Luna felt fangs grow, forcing out the teeth that had previously been there and a flow of blood seeped down her chin. The pain would have been unbearable, but Luna could no longer feel anything._

_ "Please," Luna begged the cloud, "stop." She only heard the cloud laugh as it forced her into her own subconscious._

_ "Pitiful child," The new Alicorn sneered. "Nightmare Moon has won, and shall force the night to last forever. We only need defeat that weak Celestia."_

_ Nightmare Moon left, closing the metal door behind her leaving the three crystals containing the ponies in the dark. She didn't intend to come back for them soon._


End file.
